VHS : Mickey's Christmas Carol

Rating: - Disney does "A Christmas Carol" as an animated short
The only real complaint about "Mickey's Christmas Carol" is that it only runs 25 minutes, which means the story gets a bit rushed. The rest, such as the idea that Goofy should play Marley, is just quibbling (Goofy has the height to make it work). On the plus side of the ledger is the on-point casting of Uncle Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer, Mickey Mouse as Bob Crachit, and Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Historically "Mickey's Christmas Carol" was important for Disney because it was the first animated Mickey Mouse short in thirty years. Since these are the Disney characters inhabiting the familiar roles from "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, you end up with a winning combination of goofy humor and warm sentiments. However, you cannot help but thinking that given the creativity of Disney, even in those dark days six years before "The Little Mermaid" brought back the magic, this could have been a pretty good feature length animated film. Compared to other Disney animated shorts, "Mickey's Christmas Carol" is a five. But compared to other versions of "A Christmas Carol," this one is just short of the top tier. Worth having? Absolutely. But just make sure it is not the first version of this Christmas classic that the small fry see. They should appreciate the original holiday lesson taught by Dickens before they enjoy this more comic version.